Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 14.djvu/205

 and on the Sacred Trinity.’ Having made considerable additions to these discourses, a neat edition of them was published in 1825 at Exeter in 2 vols. 8vo. Dr. Pelham, bishop of Exeter, now tardily recognised the author's merits, and in December 1825 presented Davy, then in his eighty-third year, to the vicarage of Winkleigh, Devonshire. He held the benefice only about five months, and, dying on 13 June 1826, was buried in the chancel of Winkleigh church.

A second edition of his ‘Divinity, or Discourses on the Being of God,’ in 3 vols. 8vo, appeared at Exeter in 1827, with a life of the author by his son, the Rev. Charles Davy, and a portrait engraved by R. Cooper, from a painting by William Sharland.

Davy's skill as a mechanician has been already referred to. After the sinking of the Royal George in Portsmouth harbour he proceeded thither with the plan of a diving-bell to recover the property sunk in her; but although the plan was afterwards acted upon with considerable success, Davy received no kind of remuneration.

[Life by C. Davy; Davidson's Bibl. Devon. p. 151, App. p. 30; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Lowndes's Bibl. Man. (Bohn), p. 603; Gent. Mag. xcv. pt. ii. pp. 441, 617, xcvi. pt. ii. p. 88.] 

DAVYDD. [See also .]

DAVYDD I (d. 1203), prince or king of North Wales, was the son of Owain Gwynedd [q. v.], by his cousin Crisiant or Christiana, whose affinity to Owain caused the stricter churchmen to deny the legality of their marriage, and to denounce Davydd as a bastard (, Itinerarium Kambriæ in Opera, vi. 134, Rolls Series). He first appears in history in 1157, on the occasion of Henry II's first expedition into Wales. Owain Gwynedd had arrayed his army at Basingwerk, and Henry set out by a difficult road to encounter his enemy. While in the midst of the trackless wood of Cennadlog, Davydd and his brother Cynan suddenly attacked the king with such energy that he had great difficulty in retreating to the open country, and this exploit helped to defeat the English expedition. In 1164 Davydd ravaged the district of Tegeingl, and removed the inhabitants with their cattle to the Vale of Clwyd. Henry II's third expedition to Wales in 1165 was partly occasioned by this vigorous act.

In 1169 Owain Gwynedd died, and there was much dispute among his large family by different mothers as to who should succeed him. At first Howel, Owain's eldest son by an Irish lady named Pyvog, managed to grasp the inheritance of his father (Gwentian Brut, s. a. 1169). But his fame as a bard could not compensate for his foreign origin and connections. In 1170 Davydd slew Howel, and made himself lord of Gwynedd. The bard Llywarch Llaety lamented the fate of the slain Howel, and prophesied woe to the false sons of Crisiant, whose treachery had destroyed their half-brother (Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, i. 418, ed. 1801). But the other sons of Owain still withheld from Davydd much of Gwynedd. Yet in 1173 he drove one brother, Maelgwn, out of Anglesey, which he then annexed to his dominions. Next year Maelgwn returned from his refuge in Ireland, but was seized and imprisoned by Davydd, who now managed to put in prison all his brothers and uncles, and thus to gain actual possession of all Gwynedd. The death of Cynan, his old comrade in arms, was also in his favour. But in 1175 Rhodri, the other son of Crisiant, escaped from the strict fetters into which Davydd had thrown him, and before the end of the year had permanently conquered Anglesey and the Snowdon district. Before long the sons of Cynan obtained possession of Meirionydd. Iorwerth, the only one of Owain's sons that the church acknowledged as legitimate, escaped about 1176 from Gwynedd, and was a possible rival with formidable claims. South Wales and Powys were held by hostile marchers or rival Welsh chieftains. In the vain hope of holding or recovering all Gwynedd, Davydd threw himself into the hands of the English. In 1173 and 1174 he faithfully adhered to Henry II during the great feudal revolt (, i. 51). Davydd had long importuned Henry for the hand of his bastard sister Emma, the daughter of Geoffrey Plantagenet, by a lady of Maine. At length in 1174 Henry consented grudgingly to the match (, Ymagines Historiarum, i. 397). In 1177 Davydd appeared with Rhys son of Gruffudd, Owain Cyveiliog, and other Welsh princes at the general council held by his brother-in-law at Oxford, in which John was made king of Ireland. All the Welsh chieftains took oaths of fealty to Henry. Davydd was one of the three who are described by Benedictus as ‘reges,’ by Hoveden as ‘reguli.’ He also received from Henry a grant of Ellesmere in the marches (, ii. 133–4;, i. 162). But this friendliness to his English overlord did Davydd little good in Gwynedd. The Welsh chronicles are silent as to his acts during the next few years. In 1188, when Archbishop Baldwin made his famous crusading tour through Wales, the sons of Cynan still reigned in Meirionydd, and Rhodri still ruled Mona and the lands west of the Conwy. Davydd en-